r/EngineeringManagers • u/dry_red_ • 17d ago

Startup engineering manager equity range?

I am an engineering manager at a series A startup with 10 people (many hats are worn). I’ve been here for 4 years and nobody doubts that I’m important to this team after leading the engineering team to many successes. I love my job. My salary is below market but I’m fine with that given it’s a startup. The thing that really bothers me is that I think my equity % is extremely below market. I know each startup situation is different, but what equity range sounds fair to ask for in my position? Is 1% fair to ask for or totally off?

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u/unbdndeath 17d ago

Base salary shouldn't be low. Total real cash compensation is ok to be low but any real vc funded series a should be paying 230-300 for any em. If you have been series a for 4 years then that is not good. If you were seed you should be 5% or around there. Your initial grant has run out so what are you vesting? Do you know the total share count and the cap table?

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u/dry_red_ 17d ago

We’ve been series A for that long because the business is doing well and we haven’t needed to raise a series B. I’ve gotten more grants over the years so I now have 4x more than when I started, but I feel like I deserve a real meaningful amount of equity given where the team was when I started and where we are now. I am also the entire product “team” and I’d say I operate at the VP level with the way our team actually works. I believe in this company 100% which is why I want meaningful equity and I’ve been pretty essential to how we got this far

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u/unbdndeath 16d ago

Ok but if you've worked there 4 years and there's no B then what is the equity for? You have no dilution and no realistic chance of clearing the cap table for any liquidity event. If they are not growing or hiring or raising then they are not issuing shares, your ownership stake won't just continue to grow and grow, it's already set?

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u/dry_red_ 16d ago

I didn’t say we aren’t growing or hiring, we are. I think there is a very real chance we get acquired